Teen burglar is locked up

Picture: Victoria Wilcox''Latest Derby Crown Court file picture - gv

A burglar was locked up for the first time as a judge tried to halt a criminal career covering 26 offences.

Derby Crown Court heard on Friday that Adam Thompson had never worked but managed to spend £20 daily on cannabis.

The 19-year-old was caught on a neighbour’s anti-crime camera after he raided a house on Jago Avenue, Clowne, with a friend on November 29.

Thompson admitted burglary and was sent to a young offenders’ institution for eight months.

Judge David Pugsley said Thompson of Jubilee Crescent, Clowne, had been before the courts “with monotonous regularity” and had never been locked up.

He told Thompson: “I appreciate in that part of Derbyshire unemployment is high but you have made crime a way of life.

“Crime is always going to be a way of life if you are consuming as much cannabis as you are.”

It was Thompson’s first house burglary and the judge added: “It is not just a crime against property, it is a violation of the privacy and safety of the owner’s home.”

Christopher Gabbitas, prosecuting, said the intruders stole a £349 television, a £150 laptop and a pair of speakers from the home of a woman carer.

Mr Gabbitas said: “She was very scared and distressed when she came home. She was terrified and didn’t feel safe.”

Austin Newman, mitigating, said Thompson had always obeyed the terms of previous probation orders during previous convictions and told the court: “He has never had a job. Perhaps there is still a chance that he will get himself out of this downward spiral of offending.”

The court heard Thompson had replaced all the missing items. The other burglar, who had never been in trouble before, will be sentenced by magistrates.